WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump welcomed on Tuesday Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to the White House, where the pair discussed bilateral trade, the fight against terrorism and the threat posed by North Korea, among other matters.

Before meeting with Razak and in the presence of several members of his Cabinet and the visiting delegation, Trump said that Malaysia will buy US aircraft manufactured by Boeing for between $10 billion and $20 billion.

In addition, the US leader emphasized that Malaysia is a “massive investor” in the US stock and bond markets, noting that Malaysians “have to be very happy” at the new highs that have been set on Wall Street since he – Trump – came into the Oval Office.

Regarding the fight against terrorism, Trump said that Razak is playing “a major role” in not allowing the Islamic State and other extremist groups “to exist.”

The Malaysian premier has “been very, very strong on terrorism ... and a great supporter from that standpoint. So that’s a very important thing to the United States,” Trump said.

Trump also praised the Malaysian government for avoiding doing business with North Korea and mentioned the new sanctions approved by the United Nations against Pyongyang on Monday that limit the northeast Asian state’s imports of crude oil and its derivatives and prohibit textiles imports.

The US was a supporter of more drastic sanctions against Pyongyang and, thus, Trump called the new UN measures “another very small step” to respond to the nuclear and missile tests by the North Korean regime.

“Those sanctions are nothing compared to what ultimately will have to happen,” warned Trump, who in recent days has not ruled out a possible preemptive strike on North Korea and has said that he is considering suspending US trade relations with countries that do business with Pyongyang.

The Malaysian leader’s visit to the White House has sparked a certain amount of controversy because Razak is currently implicated in a corruption case involving the alleged appropriation of millions of dollars from the state-run 1MDB investment fund.

Years ago, the pair played golf together at the US mogul’s Bedminster, New Jersey, resort complex, where Trump spent his summer vacations in August.

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